THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 18, 1995 TAG: 9503180222
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
A ship of war named for a man of God will enter the fleet in Norfolk today, making it one of only seven vessels so designated among thousands the Navy has put to sea in its 216 years.
The name of Capt. John Francis ``Father Jake'' Laboon, a former Jesuit priest and World War II hero, is attached to a guided-missile destroyer that carries the Navy's most sophisticated weapons system and Tomahawk cruise missiles in its $48 million arsenal.
The contrast moved a leader of the Roman Catholic church to provide an explanation two years ago during the christening of the Laboon.
``I could not, in good conscience, be here today if I believed that this ship would ever be engaged to initiate aggression against any nation or people,'' said Cardinal John O'Connor, archbishop of New York.
``Otherwise, it would be gross to name a ship after a priest.''
A former Navy chief of chaplains and shipmate of Laboon's, O'Connor delivered his address during the February 1993 christening at Bath Iron Works in Maine.
Cmdr. Douglas D. McDonald, commanding officer of the Laboon, said its namesake adds an aura of spirituality to the ship.
``His philosophy of thinking highly of every individual, regardless of rank, correlates with my style of leadership,'' McDonald said. ``And our motto, `Without Fear,' encourages faith in our shipmates, just as Jake Laboon had faith when he jumped in enemy waters to save someone else.''
The man, more than his calling, will be the focus of a commissioning ceremony this morning at Norfolk Naval Station.
Laboon, who died in 1988, cut a wide swath through the Navy during his career as a chaplain. But he had lived a full life - much of it in the Navy - before he became a Jesuit priest.
He was an All-American football and lacrosse player at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and as a submariner during World War II, he earned the Silver Star - the fifth highest of two dozen medals sailors can receive.
``I admired his level of seriousness and dedication for telling it like it is in the fleet,'' said retired Adm. Isaac C. Kidd Jr., 76, former commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk. ``If you didn't make a decision that was good, he was all over you like a tent.''
After graduating from the academy in 1943, Laboon trained as a submariner and was assigned to the Peto in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
He earned his Silver Star for bravery during a rescue operation. Under heavy enemy fire, the submarine crew had picked up the pilot of a downed U.S. aircraft near the Japanese island of Honshu. Then they spotted the wingman - in water that was mined and too shallow to approach.
Lt. j.g. Laboon volunteered to rescue the aviator. He dived off the submarine and swam out to the man, dodging the deadly shellfire, then brought him safely to the ship.
Laboon resigned from the Navy at the end of the war and entered the priesthood as a Jesuit, a teaching order. He was called back from reserve status in 1958 when Kidd recommended him to Adm. Arleigh Burke, the chief of naval operations, to serve as chaplain for the Polaris submarine program.
Laboon stayed in the Navy, serving in places such as Alaska, Japan and Vietnam during the next 22 years. He was decorated for work as a battlefield chaplain with the 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam.
Today, the $1 billion destroyer bearing his name - with its crew of 314 men and 23 women - enters the Navy as the eighth in a class of destroyers expected to number 29. The class is named for the man who brought Laboon back into the service, Arleigh Burke. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
USS Laboon
The guided-missile destroyer Laboon is named for Capt. John Francis
``Father Jake'' Laboon.
by CNB